MELBOURNE (Paulo Kennedy's View from Downunder) - What a great decision by the NBL to chase Australian national team coach Andrej Lemanis to pace the sidelines for the new Brisbane Bullets from next season.

The first question many people asked was what does this mean for the Boomers coaching position after the Rio Olympics?

Well I don't think it means anything.

Have a look at your nearest calendar. Lemanis takes over the gig immediately following the Olympics. He'll have a say in recruiting before that obviously, but Basketball Operations Manager and Assistant Coach CJ Bruton will be the man running the show until Lemanis arrives.

The NBL season then runs from October to February, while the Boomers next major commitment won't be until August 2017 when they debut at the FIBA Asia Cup (formerly the FIBA Asia Championship).

The lead-up for that tournament is unlikely to be more than a month, meaning if Lemanis maintains the job he'll have from March to July to travel around the globe to meet up with Boomers players and get his house in order locally.

Of course, whoever coaches the Boomers after that won't be able to coach in the NBL in 2017-18 due to FIBA's new year-round qualifying calendar, but perhaps the league will be content for Lemanis to give the new Bullets program credibility and then hand over to Bruton or someone else?

It's a moot discussion at this point, because even if Lemanis wishes to continue, what happens with the national team job will probably depend on how the Boomers play.

The point is, the new FIBA calendar has opened a perfect opportunity for Lemanis to spearhead the Bullets' re-entry without compromising Australian duties.

The most interesting question for me is how Lemanis and Bruton will construct the team, which enters the NBL at a time when the standard is close to the best it’s ever been.

While Lemanis said it will be a new experience for him building a team from scratch, the reality is he turned an almost blank canvas on Auckland's North Shore into the powerhouse that is now the New Zealand Breakers, with Bruton an integral part of that on-court.

Taking over an ageing playing group stricken by disharmony, and a resulting fan base that could almost be counted by taking your shoes and socks off, Lemanis developed a plan with the Breakers' new management and ownership group to slowly build a successful team.

The key for New Zealand was their development academy. Can the Bullets replicate that? 

It's hard to say, it will take a lot of resources, and maybe the concept won’t work as well in the Brisbane environment given Australia already has the Centre of Excellence (formerly Australian Institute of Sport) and the lure of college ball is strong with Aussie youngsters.

But given Queenslanders like to support their own, just like Kiwis, I am sure Lemanis will be offering plenty of advice about how the Bullets can make this team something local fans can identify with.

"It's important that we have a good connection to the Queensland roots and so certainly a Queensland contingent of players would be important for me," Lemanis said.

Of course, the Breakers' rebuild took three years to get to respectability, and five years until the ultimate success, something I'm sure the NBL-owned franchise in Brisbane will want to fast-track.

Lemanis gave an indication of how he intends to do that, listing out-of-contract players and overseas Aussies as potential targets.

In the Euroleague we have Brisbane boy Brock Motum doing his thing for Zalgiris Kaunas. On the NBA fringe there is fellow local Cam Bairstow in Chicago. 

I'm sure the Bullets will check in to see how they're doing, and make attractive offers if there is no suitable contract coming from their powerhouse clubs.

Back here in the NBL, adopted Brisbanite Chris Goulding is on a one-year deal with Melbourne. He is one of the most dangerous offensive talents Australia has produced and brings a swagger that would be a perfect recruiting tool. 

If the Bullets can sign one or two of them that would be a great building block - three would be a dream - that would give the team a huge chance at being successful in the short-term.

What recent NBL history has shown us though, is if you want that success to last you have to build a core group who stay strong together for a number of years.

That's easier said than done, but Lemanis knows how it's done. He also knows Australia's best players inside-out, and many of the exciting athletes coming through the New Zealand system.

That's why he's a perfect choice to get the Bullets firing and help keep them loaded long-term. 

Paulo Kennedy

FIBA

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